Realise - Real Lies

Glass House

Check it out here as well: https://jaderoxx30892.wixsite.com/reallies/post/chapter-53-glass-house

Jake's POV

I stared at the screen silently willing that this was a glitch or a mirage or anything else but what I was seeing. "You look like you have seen a ghost," Liam's voice jolted me back. I quickly glanced around to see Jade and Richy in a deep conversation, far enough to be out of earshot. I gulped staring back at the screen, "I hope it is a ghost otherwise this is one scary corpse." Liam squinted at the screen, "Is that..?" "Yup that is him. Did you know about it?" I asked Liam. "It makes sense now. No I didn't know about him. Are you going to tell her?" he said turning to look at Jade fidgeting on her phone. Richy was drinking, what I assumed was a glass of scotch. "No," I said sadly. The image of Pinocchio flashed in my eyes. I was sure if I was Pinocchio, my nose would have grown to an exorbitant length. Shit. I hated keeping things from her. "What are you guys looking into?" Damian asked, interrupting our thoughts. Liam pointed to the screen. Damian's eyes widened in surprise and he whispered , "Is that who I think it is?" "Yup," I replied. "Christ. Are you going to tell her, mate?" Damian asked. "No he isn't," Liam answered for me. "Why not?" Damian asked.
"I can't do this to her. The trauma has stressed her out way too much. What if she can't handle this? Her nightmare is out in the open. That will definitely..." I couldn't complete the statement. "Well thats really healthy and mature of you," Liam said sarcastically and walked away. "Are you crazy? You have to tell her. About this and about everything. It will hurt her but she wouldn't be able to bear it if you are lying to her as well. This is not what a healthy relationship is based on," Damian hissed at me. "Would you relax? It isn't.. I don't think it is a... I mean we really haven't discussed about.." I stammered. Damian narrowed his eyes at me, "Why are you acting like a blubbering idiot? Spit it out." "I don't know if we are in a relationship," I said. "Come again mate? You don't know? Have you spoken to her about it?" Damian asked. "Actually no. I said I would talk about it after I put the whole Zeus thing behind me," I said, realizing how stupid this all sounded. Damian looked even more confused, "I don't get it. Why would you do that?....Wait a minute. Bloody hell. You don't want to leave the Pantheon." "I...I..don't know if I will fit outside of the Pantheon. Thats who I have been. Thats what my identity is and what my existence has been about... plus it feels like I have just caused more trouble to her by just being around her," I spilled all my thoughts. Yes things were great. I had a new lease on life and it was the most amazing time I had but what if I was causing more harm than good. I had this in my head, but now it was a reality.
"Well then you have tell her that then. Right now you are just leading her on and that is a really shitty thing to do mate," Damian snapped at me. "It's not that simple ok?" I hissed at him. "Oh really? It never is 'Jake'. You chose to pursue her and now when things get tough you just want to drop out?" He asked. "No no I don't want to drop out, but I worry that maybe my past will always haunt the life we may build together. Not everyone can have a clean break like you Damian. You are lucky. You have a family and you made a choice to keep them out of this and good for you. You family is completely oblivious to your past and you started on a clean slate. But it's different here. She is now intertwined in my past life and every step of the way something messes things up," I said sadly. "Well maybe I shouldn't have compartmentalized my life that way, mate. Maybe things would have been easier that way. But thats beside the point. Do you really want to spend the rest of your life being the puppet in Liam's hand? For Christ's sake, he is a complete asshole. We thought he was this new generation Robin Hood, but now he is more like a Figjam," he said. "Ok you know I haven't thought of the parameters yet but right now this man's existence is completely menacing. I need to get Jade and even Richy out of here and far away from anyone from Ragwort as soon as possible," I said. "Well that makes sense, though I would like to see you convince her," Damian said. I saw Richy go to the bedroom on the left.
Liam walked towards us, "Did you get anything else useful?" "Not yet, the system is still decrypting the data," I said. Liam groaned, "How slow can this be? Here let me try." "What? No. Don't touch my laptop," I said. We got into a tug of war over the laptop and suddenly the tea cup spilled, tea spilling on Liam's shirt. He growled angrily, "Oh for the love of God, do you realize this is a Gucci shirt?" "Ok lighten up guys. Liam I can give you a spare T-shirt and Hermes would be kind enough to get it dry cleaned. How does that sound?" Damian said quickly. I nodded but Liam just groaned and followed Damian to the next room. Jade walked over to me, "Trouble in paradise?" I had quickly shut the video off my screen and smiled at her, "Not really. More like the squabble of a spoilt brat. How are you doing?" "Not good, honestly. I just want all this to be over," she said softly as she sat next to me. She put her head on my shoulder and I did feel better, at least she found comfort in me even in the most difficult times, "You know when you told me we could just leave to Antarctica to live with the penguins?" "Yes. What about it?" she asked. "I regret not doing that," I said honestly. "Well you may always have regrets. I don't think you would be able to walk away from this situation. Something wrong is happening and no matter how big of an asshole he is, Liam still seems to need your help. So maybe you should do that first. Remember you told me you are doing this so that you can have a fresh start and you want to do it right. So do it right. Besides the penguins aren't going anywhere," she said slyly. I chuckled, "Give it to you to find the silver lining in anything." "Weirdly that side only comes out when you are around," she said. "That's good to hear," I said. "Hey you don't even like the snow, I am pretty sure you would have shot down the idea anyways," she grumbled. I chuckled again, "Fair enough. I am sorry you know." "For what?" She asked looking at me. "For this mess," I said. "Come on Jake, I know this comes with your territory and this is important to you. I know I may have sounded very unsupportive but its just that I know you and I trust you. I can't say the same for Liam. I don't know him the way you do, that's why I hesitated," she said genuinely. "You know you have grown very wise, my love," I said. She smiled, "Yup someone had to be wise among a bunch of 'imbeciles.'" I laughed.
Liam walked in right at that moment wear a short sleeved T-shirt, completely off his signature attire. He looked like Damian's brother as the T-shirt reminded me of Damian. "So where was I?" Liam asked rhetorically. He looked at my laptop. He extended his hand towards me, expecting me to give him the laptop. I stared at his hand for a moment longer, then shrugged and gave him the laptop. Thoughts started running through my mind. The conversation with Damian, Luke, everything clouded my mind. Damian walked in and saw us and smirked, "Guess you guys are getting cozy." "Jade, how about you take some rest. I will take some time to work on the data," I said, trying to sound as honest as possible so she wouldn't doubt me. "Okay sure. Let me know if I can help you in any way," she said standing up and walking to a room Damian pointed to, which was upstairs. As soon as Jade was out of the room, I quickly relayed the point that I needed to get Jade and Richy out of Switzerland to Liam. Liam heard me patiently, "What about opening the drive?" "I can override the biometrics," I said. "So how are you going to convince her?" Damian asked. "Not her. I just need to convince Richy to take her away," I said confidently.